The Ting Tings: Five essential songs

by Ed Masley - Mar. 16, 2012 11:33 AMThe Republic | azcentral.com

What's great about the Ting Tings is the way their best songs channel both the trash-pop sensibilities of early New Wave and the old-school hip-hop vibe that subsequently worked its way into the sound of records by the likes of Blondie and the Tom Tom Club. That they frequently top it with cheerleader chants is a definite bonus. But they sound good singing, too.

The Ting Tings' second album, "Sounds From Nowheresville," arrived a week before they make their way to Tempe's Marquee Theatre for a Tuesday, March 20 performance. In the meantime, here's a guide to the essential Ting Tings.

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1. "That's Not My Name"

The Ting Tings topped the U.K. singles chart in mid-2008 with this attitude-driven electro pop track, but it wasn't released in the States until early 2010. Imagine Debbie Harry helping Toni Basil write a sequel to "Hey Mickey" in her "Rapture" days. It somehow stalled at No. 39 on Billboard's Hot 100, but it should have topped the charts here, too. Her name is Katie, by the way.

2. "Shut Up and Let Me Go"

It may have taken an iPod commercial to break this single in the States. But it wouldn't have worked half as well if the music had been any less "un-ignorable," as Katie White so memorably sings at one point. Sassy female vocals with a British accent would be irresistible enough, but then they went and built the track around a slinky groove that feels like something David Bowie and Nile Rodgers might have written in the sessions that produced "Let's Dance."

3. "Guggenheim"

The verses are spoken in obvious tribute to the Shangri-Las (if they'd been British). Then, the chorus hits and suddenly, you'd swear you're hearing Northern State (assuming you remember Northern State), a cowbell-rocking rap with White as head cheerleader shouting "This time I'm gonna get it right! I"m gonna play bass at the Guggenheim!" with a contagious lust for life.

4. "We Walk"

It's hard to imagine the melodramatic piano that opens this song sharing space on an album with "Shut Up and Let Me Go," much less "That's Not My Name." But then the beat kicks in, and suddenly it sounds like something written later that same day. It's got that Ting Tings understanding of the groove, as though the only funk they'd ever heard was Chic. And I don't mean that in a bad way.

5. "Great DJ"

The Ting-Tings didn't mean to go all post-punk on us. As White explained the writing of the riff that sets the tone here to the Guardian, she'd been "playing a D chord on the guitar for hours, because that's all I could play. And then I put my finger on the wrong string, and got what I discovered was an augmented chord." It's a moodier-than-average Ting Tings single, but the throbbing groove is just as danceable.